Tuesday, February 26, 2008

We made it back to Wausau last night around seven after being delayed in Chicago for a couple of hours due to the refreshing rain that turned into beautiful fluffy snow while we watched. No matter. We got home and so did our bags, and that's all that counts.

I'm so glad that I cleaned like a maniac before we left. It's so nice to come home to an organized house. It's also really amazing to unpack your bags and hang everything up because *it's clean already* since we kept doing laundry right up until we left. Small blessings with a big impact.

Despite totally pigging out on unhealthy foods on several occasions on our trip, I still managed to lose almost 3 pounds. Yeah. I don't have a clue. I made small efforts throughout our travels, but I completely expected that one slice of boston cream pie cake and the other more generous slice of reese's peanut butter cake to show up on the scale. It didn't, and for that I am truly grateful. Chris, the poor dear, went up a couple pounds.

That's okay. We're all heading back to the Y today to hop back on the wagon and the elliptical and get back to the business of weight loss.

Traveling yesterday was an adventure. We knew the weather would be getting bad in Chicago, so we kept expecting our flight to be canceled or diverted.

We woke up at 3 am again and got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, but at least we found some seats in the waiting room. After about fifteen minutes, it was standing room only, which isn't easy to do with a toddler and a baby for more than a short while. Ben ate many, many snacks because he decided it was breakfast. After four cookies I had saved from a flight last week, he had almost an entire Kashi Go Lean bar. Goofy.

We flew into Denver first with only an hour layover. Hoppity hop. Back on a plane, this time with on-flight entertainment. Ben had his DVD player and watched choo-choos. Chris and I watched Chuck, which was playing on the big screen.

Landed in Chicago. While we taxied to the gate, Chris turned on his cell to look at flight checker and found that we didn't have to run to our next flight. It was delayed more than two hours. We skipped the shuttle and walked to our next gate on the opposite side of the airport (we are vital, active people with fit, capable bodies, didn't you know). Then I paid nearly 30 dollars for semi-healthy food for us while Ben watched VeggieTales. We found seats several gates away from where we were supposed to be, but our designated area was jam-packed since they had four flights leaving from the same gate within thirty minutes of each other. Crazy.

Wait. Change diapers. Check the departure board. Wait some more. After two of those four flights were canceled, we sat where we were supposed to, and we waited some more as our aircraft landed, but couldn't find room at the gate because the planes that were supposed to take off, couldn't.

We made it eventually. Everything was fine.

Entertaining an infant on a plane is so exhausting. I worked my ass off to keep her from crying. The people around me had to deal with me singing the alphabet song and itsy-bitsy spider and making silly noises and faces and seeing a baby go up in the air like an airplane OVER. and. Over. and over. again. I got many "thank yous" and "your baby was so well behaveds" and "i'm impresseds." High praise indeed. Worth it. She did cry a little bit, but only for a few minutes at a time.

Oh. And those people who reclined their seats back into my lap while I was holding a baby? Karma, people. Karma. It'll come back to bite you in the ass. I had to stand on my seat to get out into the aisle. That's hard to do while holding a baby.

So that was that. And now it's over. Time to rest and recuperate from our vacation. :)